Seating arrangements
by Kuri333
Summary: There was a reason to be curious about who the next valet would be, and a motive other than being civil for trying to be kind. - A glimpse at Anna and Mr Bates
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** The characters and places you recognise belong to Julian Fellowes.

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There was a reason for the seating arrangements in the servants' hall, as there was in so many of the daily routines and tasks in a maid's life. Mr Carson would sit at the head of the table, as the captain of the ship he seemed to be, regarding Downton's workers. Mrs Hughes, always at his right. It had not taken Anna long to realise that, truth to be told, she was as much of a captain as the butler, and sometimes she suspected that even more so.

And here is where she stopped understanding the reasons behind hierarchies; she would have thought the position of the valet would be higher than that of her Ladyship's maid, and yet, O'Brien was to sit next, on Mr Carson's left, while the valet's place was on Mrs Hughes' right. And then there was she, head housemaid, the first of a line of maids it was her work to supervise.

The table was large enough, but space was not very abundant in the servants' quarters.

There had been nothing unpleasant about Mr Watson, but his elbows did had a tendency to occupy a tad more room than he was supposed to, so Anna was not entirely sorry that she would not have to share daily meals next to him anymore. It gave her, however, a reason to be curious about who the next valet would be, and a motive other than being civil for trying to be kind.

It turned out he had been somebody easy to be friendly with. There was a hidden sense of humour that sometimes Mr Bates would chose to display with a remark or a smile that would reach his eyes. Anna found herself not only tolerating, but looking forward to mealtimes sitting next to him or the odd moment where their paths would cross during duty upstairs.

But it wasn't until that day, when he purposely chose to sit next to her in an empty table that suddenly looked so large, that Anna felt it. It was something else, different from the shared glances, the small smiles or the mute comments.

"Alone at last."

Breath caught in her throat as her heart started beating faster; it took her a moment to recognise the warm feeling spreading inside her chest.

Hope.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Thanks for reading and reviewing! As usual, all places and characters belong to Julian Fellowes.

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A lot had changed. Time and a war nobody could have imagined, had brought many new, different things for the inhabitants of Downton. And yet, Mr Carson would keep them all going at his almost military pace, not a disruption in the schedules upstairs, or in the way he expected his staff to behave.

Right before sitting to have breakfast, automatically, Anna reached to arrange her cap, and a second later she realised, as she did almost every morning, that she did no longer wear one. There are some old habits that did not come easy to let go, so who was she to be surprised at the way Mr Carson did not seem to want to let go of the past, if she did not seem to be able to forget she was not a housemaid anymore?

Her place at the table, though, was still the same. Lady Mary was not the Countess of Grantham, and in the strict hierarchy of seating in the servants' hall, that meant O'Brien was still closer to the head, right after the butler and the housekeeper.

Anna would not have minded. She actually liked her place, almost at the middle, which allowed her to talk to Mrs Hughes if she wanted to, or to the maids sitting on her right side. The only problem was that now her immediate left was occupied by Thomas. Mr Barrow, she corrected herself. And was that an ordeal! She was surprised she missed having the ever fidgeting Mr Lang there, but it was plain that, no matter what strange behaviour the last valet had brought back from the war, when it was about sitting next to him it was much preferable.

It would soon start get into her nerves, Thomas' drawling voice, his constant smoking and the way he would push back his chair to get a complete view of the room while sneering at whoever might be talking. Anna had once complained about Mr Watson's elbows. Now she almost missed those too!

She took a brief sideways glimpse. Of course he was smirking and she had too much experience with that particular gesture to just let it go. What on Earth was he-

A tiny nudge on her left foot made the thought stop on its tracks.

She could not help but beam over the rim of her cup of tea.

Slowly, enjoying taking just a second longer, she looked up to meet those bright eyes. Laughter was dancing in them. He had seen the smirk and he was amused at it, making it a private joke of theirs.

Another nudge and the gentle lingering pressure of Mr Bates - John's - shoe on hers made her almost chuckle out loud, her head full of exciting memories and fantasies.

Who cared who was next to her when she could have all these silent special moments with her husband, sitting right in front where he belonged?


End file.
